Category Archives: In and Around Pune

Purandar Fort
Purandar Fort is known as the birthplace of Sambhaji, the son of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
The fort of Purandhar stands at 4,472 ft (1,387 m) above the sea level in the Western Ghats, 50 km to the southeast of Pune.
The twin forts of Purandar and Vajragad (or Rudramal) of which the latter is the smaller of the two, is located on the eastern side of the main fort.
The village of Purandar takes its name from this fort.

How to reach Purander fort?
Reach saswad. From saswad just before the Narayanpur temple there is left turn for Purnadar fort.

Map:

Pune Hadapsar Purandar

Pune Katraj Purander

Details at fort:
We started our joureny from Hadapsar around 9:15 AM and reached saswad via Deve ghat around 10 PM.
Few of my friends from Katraj were also joing us at Saswad so we had to wait. They came around 10: 30 PM

From saswad we reached base of the fort in another 20 mins. Just before the Narayanpur temple there is left turn for Purnadar fort.
We enquired for trekking and they said it is difficult to trek from base as we went with family and small childrens. They suggested to take vehicle up the fort and park it there.
Just like singhagad fort, road is constructed to reach the top of the fort. That raod is constructed and maintained by Army and therefore is in very good condition.
Fort is under Army territory and enterance is based on ID proofs. They register each and every visiter.

From enterance gate, it is around 1 KM or so to the parking. There is only 1 hotel present at the top and you willget snacks at decent price.
From there it’s 1 hour journey with kids.

Places to see Purandar fort:
Temple
Murarbaji Deshpande stattue
Old Church
Small water tanks/old new
Beautiful view
Cloudy wheather.

Mahabaleshwar is a hill station in Maharashtra forested Western Ghats range, south of Mumbai. There are list of points to view named by British’s with some history around each. Colorful boats dot Venna Lake, while 5 rivers meet at Panch Ganga Temple to the north.

Recommended Min and Max stay:

I would say you need minimum 2 days and maximum 4 days as there are plenty of options to see. It all depends how you want to plan things.

Malshej ghat
Malshej Ghat is a mountain pass in the Western Ghats range in the Thane-Pune district of Maharashtra, India.
The site is nestled in the lofty rugged hills of the Western Ghats.
The site is home to hundreds of different kinds of flora and fauna especially the avian population such as quails, rails, crakes, flamingos and cuckoos.Pune to Malshej ghat distance:
It is around 138 KM from Pune.

State Bus Station is right next to the railway station. Any Ahmednagar Bound Bus will stop at Malshej Ghat.
From Kalyan Rail Station, one can take state buses that commute frequently between Kalyan and Ahmednagar.
It will approximately take 1.5 hrs by Bus from Kalyan.

Ticket : 390/- for all
Kids below 2 yrs age not allowed.
Check for offers on there website

Snow Town season mall Pune review

It’s small place for kids to enjoy.
Average place for adults to enjoy.
Its very chilled so kids are to be packed up accordingly.
They provide jackets, hand gloves and gum boots. Boot quality is not that good.
Don’t forget to carry your own pair of socks, all-though one can be purchased there.
The slots are of 45 mins, but one cannot stay long inside.
You can enter as and when you reach though the timing mentioned on website is as 12,1,2… o Clock

Nature Trails is one the best outing spots for corporates or group of individuals. It is placed against beautiful Sahyadri range. They have developed the place quite well from last 2 – 3 years. This place is near to adlabs imagica, which is very well know to most of us by know. This place is know by different names like Durshet Forest Lodge or Durshet – Nature Trails. The Natural Waterfall that appears in the monsoons is one of the best thing to enjoy.

They also provide A/C and Non A/c accomodation. They have 16 Premium A/c Rooms 11 Non A/c Rooms. 4 Bunk houses and 8 Tents accommodation. It is ideal for day picnics, corporate outdoor training programs of longer duration and for families over the weekends.

Distance of Nature Trails from Pune/Mumbai:
Durshet Nature trails is around 100 km from Mumbai and less then that from Pune. It is around 10km ahead of adlabs imagica on Pali road.

Note: we had top 4 activities included in package and we enjoyed them a lot.

Details:

We started from Pune around 6:45 AM and reached there around 10: 20 am. Our total group was around 75 people. Had breakfast there. We requested for changing rooms 1 for ladies and another for gents. Changed clothes and got ready. Then we have to walk to other side to start the activities.

Activities starts with Tarzan Swing then we had Burma Bridge. After that Zipline and finally Rappelling. After that we enjoyed lot under waterfall and had photo session. All the activities completed by 3:30 PM. Then we had lunch. Even after lunch we enjoyed in swimming pool till 4:30 PM.

Then they provide evening snacks. Tea/Coffee and bhel or something.

Review of Durshet Nature Trails:
-Ideal place for day picnics for corporates/families
-Climate/Nature is awesome there.
-Do carry extra pair of clothes/shoes. They provided couple of rooms for changing on request.
-Heavy rain in monsoon season, so plan accordingly.
-We did not stay however accommodation looked good.
– Breakfast and lunch was good. Had multiple options like idli, wada, sandwich, shira, egg omlett and bananas.
-Confirm which all activities are included in you package.

Ganpati festival was started by Lokmanya Bal Gangadar Tilak in Pune, Maharshtra(“Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav”). His idea behind it was to unite people and strengthen the patriotic fervor in Indians. Ganesh Utsav is now celebrated not only in India but all over world.

5 Manache Ganpati:
Pune City is well know for celebration of Ganpati festival with different decorations(Halta dekhava’s) in front of Ganpati. Everyone is aware of Dagdusheet ganpati however many are unaware of 5 Manache ganpatis in Pune which have important place in the minds of the devotees. Dagdusheet ganpati is not included in that list.

So we are describing below 5 Manache Ganpati in Pune which you must visit for sure.

Kasba Ganpati:
An idol of Lord Ganesha was found near the house of Vinayak Thakar, who used to reside close to the residence of Masaheb Jijabai Bhosale.

The temple was built by Shivaji Maharaj & Jijabai Bhosale
in the year 1638.The immersion process on Anath chaturdashi starts with this Ganpati.

Tambdi Jogeshwar

Tambdi Jogeshwari is 2nd respected ganpati in Pune.Here the specialty is that, the statue of Lord Ganesha is immersed every year at the end of Ganesotsav and re-established again in the successive year.

Guruji Talim

Guruji Talim is the 3rd respected Ganapati in Pune. It was first established in 1887 by two Hindu & Muslim families of Bhiku Shinde and Ustaad Nalban. This is the reason why Guruji Talim symbolizes Hindu-Muslim unity in Pune.

Tulshibaug Ganpati
Tulshibaug Ganpati is the 4th respected Ganapati in Pune. It was first established in 1901. This mandal holds the honor of establishing the first Glass Fiber statue since 1975.

Kesariwada Ganapati
Kesariwada Ganapati is the 5th respected Ganapati in Pune. Since its inception in 1894, the Kesari Trust’s Ganesh festival used to be organised at Vinchurkar Wada, off Kumthekar Road, which was then the ancestral home of the Tilaks. Then in 1905, it was shifted to Gaikwad Wada, presently known as Kesariwada.

Most popular Ganpati in Pune:

Dagdusheth Ganpati is one of the most popular Ganpati idols in the city. It is known for “Navsala Pavnara Ganpati”
It is famous for being the richest Ganesha of Pune and has existed since 1893. This temple is visited by thousands of devotees every year which also includes many famous personalities.

Below is the map for your reference to visit this Ganpati mandals especially during Ganpati festivals:

Things to remember:

Heavy crowd on weekends during Ganesh festival.

Take care of your belongings

There is lot of distance to walk if you are planning to see all ganpati’s mentioned above. If you reach 1 ganpati then from there relative distance to other ganpatis is less.

Sinhagad is very well known fort near Pune for one day picnic spot, for trekking and place to spend time with your loved ones. One of most popular weekend destination around Pune.

Sinhagad Fort history:
Singhagad Fort was earlier known as Kondana fort.After one the most famous battle at singhad by Tanaji Malusare, one of the sarder of Shivaji Maharaj this fort was recaptured from Mughal.He lost is life in that battle. There is an anecdote that upon hearing of Tanaji’s death, Shivaji Maharaj expressed his remorse with the words: “Gadh aala, panh sinha gela” – “We gained the fort, but lost the lion” It was therefore renamed as Singhagad (lion’s fort).

There is entrance fees at entrance road of singhagad fort of 20/- for 2 wheeler and 50/- for 4 wheeler.

Map:

Details at fort:

The weather at sinhagad in monsoon season is just beautiful. You will experience mixed climate. You will seen nice greenary all aroud with fog in between and drizzle in between. Singhad fort is also famous for kanda bhaji and onion chatney (40/-) served with it. Apart from that you will get
pitla bhakri (30/-), wange bharit (40/-) brinjal sabji and matki dahi (30/-)